Gales, hail, sleet, sun...

Bit bored with the wind now!  To be honest I haven't ventured far from the house. Fighting a cold, and cough, and wrapping myself in warmth and rest as last time I got a cold my asthma was very upset and I ended up in hospital!  Anyway here are a few photos from the last week.

Today's weather........ good drying day for washing on the line....maybe...

Lots of heavy sleet showers accompanying the wind.... oh and lightning - as evidenced by red blobs on map below.

And then the showers pass over...

And Button snoozes in the warm and the sunshine (when it's available)

But there were sunny days too....

I mean REALLY sunny days!

And the hens were delighted to be out and about...

And blue skies!

But time to hunker down again as the next hail shower hits....

More sunshine....

And another precious sunny day before the storms.  It was even quite mild, and again the hens enjoyed being out and about rather than hunkering down near the hen house all the time. Above the Hamnavoe ferry sailing into Stromness from Scrabster in the North of Scotland.  A lovely day to arrive in Orkney.

I love the wispy clouds!

And my lovely hellebore! It is the first winter it's managed to survive the gales to flower!

Sadly this miniature iris didn't survive the storms.... it was so pretty too.

And some of the mini daffs.  There are various clumps around the garden.  They are always the first to flower but even they are early this year.  Probably due to such a mild winter (so far!).

Perennials pushing through again - think this is a geranium...

The hens have discovered that plenty of seeds drop from the bird feeder on windy days and they sweep up any the wild birds have missed!

Before the storm(s)

And the day before Storm Ciara was a beautiful day with a chance for Button and I to get to the beach.

Button is glad to be out and about too!

Think she's hunting for groatie buckies (tiny shells) in this picture. Hee hee!

So still and calm...

Time to head home now....

Mini daffs in the garden....

This elderly hen was also glad to have the sun on her back.  She's Wheezy Hen as for some time she had a distinct wheeze but that seems to have cleared up now.  She will be 10 this year - that's quite an age for a hen.  She's blind in one eye and doesn't venture far these days but was out with her sister and the rest of the girls to enjoy the sun and a bit of a rootle about.

And some daffs indoors (bought ones but I love their fragrance and it's a harbinger of Spring... even if Spring is a way off just now!)

Incoming storm....

In Orkney we had Storm Ciara and now Storm Dennis. We tend to be amused when storms have names as they tend to be for when Mainland UK is going to get bad weather.  We go from one gale to another in Winter here.  Though this year there have been some big storm surges which have caused flooding to a few homes along the shore which must be awful for the folk to deal with.

Earlier in the week there was a thunderstorm and some folk lost phones.  I was lucky and all was OK but poor Button got a real fright as there was no warning of the loud thunderclap overhead and she was very distressed for a while.  She soon recovered thankfully.

I've not posted for a while - Winter for me is a time of hibernation and turning inwards, and I tend not to venture forth when the weather is bad.  I've some extra work on at the moment too so am focussing on that.

Anyway, today I have caught up with blog comments, and have a few pictures to share.  This particular (unnamed) storm brought heavy rain and hail as well as wind.  I misjudged my trip to feed the hens and stood in the henny house watching it approach and pass over.  I (and the girls) were well protected and it was lovely to watch.  Though noisy with the sound of hail on the hen house tin roof!

Here it comes!

Bringing a rainbow with it!

Nothing between us an Canada but this storm.... (well and a lot of sea...)

Somewhere over there is Stromness!

About to retreat into hen house for a few minutes...

And afterwards we are back to grey skies

And when it clears..... snow atop the Hoy hills....